Mark A Shields

Are these worth the money, I was looking at a B&M chrome one for only $50, holds 2-4 more quarts.

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'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
FLOWMASTER
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
2:73 GEARS
Rebuilt 700R4, with manual valve body
B&M Megashifter
Soon to be installed
and Exhaust Cut-Out
"There is nothing more addicting than speed"

CraZ-28

The Deep pans are great. The only thing I would not recommend is a chrome pan. They retain heat. If you can swing it, try to get an aluminum pan if possible. They distribute heat better and they have fins also. If all you can afford is a chrome one though, go a head and get it. Just remember the heat issue. Also, if your car is lowered, DON'T get one. If you ever had a problem going over speed bumps or humps, you'll really have a problem now.

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'91 Z-28 5.7, SLP 1 3/4 headers, 4 inch Mufflex/Flowmaster cat back, gutted cats, Edelbrock intake, 8.5mm Jacob wires, MSD Blaster coil, S&W subframe setup, Jacob Pro Street Ignition, complete Kenwood system.

AJ_92RS

There is a pan in Jeg's that is steel, but it has air tubes that sit through the fluid to
disperse heat. Kinda like a radiator flows fluid though the tubes so the air around the
tubes can cool the fluid inside, but visa versa. This pan allows air to flow through the tubes, with the fluid around them. Same concept though. It's made by Derale. It also
adds 1 quart of fluid to the capacity. It's about $73. I think it would cool the fluid
better than a chrome one, if it's not chrome itself. I'm not sure if it is. But if it is, it would still cool better than one without the air tubes.

AJ

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92 RS w/t-tops 305 TBI Auto.
170K miles and don't burn a drop o'oil
-K&N Truck filter #1500 w, open ele.
air cleaner
-Dynomax 2 1/2" cat-back
-B&M TransPak
-Jet Stage2 Chip
-180* T-Stat w/ 185* Fan Switch
-JVC CD--Alpine speakers & 4ch. amp
Rockford 2ch. to 2 MTX 12" subs

bigvic

Adding extra tranny fluid is a great idea to prolong the life of your tranny, but all of the pans that increase capacity all have their drawbacks.

First of all, if the chromed pan is chromed on the inside, which I believe it is, the over time, the chrome on the inside of the pan chip away and work itself into your tranny internals, which could happen if you bottom out with it and dent it. I know your thinking that the filter would stop the chrome chuncks. It propably would stop the chrome chuncks from getting into your tranny, but I would rather not risk it myself. Especially if the chrome came loose in a large amount at one time which could clog the filter. I reckon you could always sand the chrome off the inside of the pan to prevent this.

Secondly, there are the aluminum pans out there with the fins built in them. These are great at dispersing heat and cooling the tranny, but again the added capicity decreases ground clearance, and the aluminum is not as forgiving as the stamped steel pans when it comes to bottoming out. They would most likely crack on you before they would dent really causing your day to go bad.

Third, you have the pans with the integral tubes going through them like mentioned previously. This is another great concept, but with all those tubes, you have a great number of welds that can turn into potential leaks. Again with the added capacity, you have less clearance which equals more bottoming out on the pan. When you start banging on all of those welds, leaks are bound to happen. Another note is that I believe these pans are chrome plated as well so you have a double amount of potential problems.

Keep in mind that these are only my observations. Im sure that there are people on this board running some of these mentioned pans with no problems at all. I just wanted to bring these potential problems into the light to help make your decision easier. If after reading this, you decide that none of these pans are right for you, you ought to consider adding a transmission cooler. It would be easier and less messy to install, and I believe it would do a better job at cooling your tranny. Not to mention you won't lose any ground clearance either.

[This message has been edited by bigvic (edited June 02, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by bigvic (edited June 02, 2001).]

Mark A Shields

Thanks for the advice, I already have a tranny cooler, and was just considering helping out my tranny more, but I do have a clearance problem as it is on speed bumps and don't want to risk it.

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'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
FLOWMASTER
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
2:73 GEARS
Rebuilt 700R4, with manual valve body
B&M Megashifter
Soon to be installed
and Exhaust Cut-Out
"There is nothing more addicting than speed"

blacksunshine'91

iTrader: (10)

If you already have a cooler then I wouldn't recommend getting a deep pan also. You don't want the fluid to get to cool or you can scorch it. Install a tranny temp gauge and see where your fluid heat level is.

Mark W. Winning

Make sure you install the spacer between the valve body and the filter too. I know of someone who installed a deeper pan and left out the spacer. Then the tranny went a little low on fluid and .........

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1992 Pontiac Firebird 350/Six Speed
1987 Toyota Pickup 383/500+ HP

FlashGTA

I've got a beat to **** Derale deep pan to prove they are a bad idea. Get a trans cooler and be done with it.

Synergy

I got a T&D Performance chrome tranny pan for like 40 bucks at the local performance parts store. It's NOT chromed on the inside and the finish is pretty damn good. So far, there's no leaks and it works out pretty good.

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92 Z28 5.7
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Trick Flow 23° heads, Comp Cams XR270HR-10 cam, Accel intake base + ported TPI,
TES headers, Flowmaster catback, MSD ignition, #24 SVO injectors, 1LE aluminum driveshaft.

Click here to see pics of my car !

bigals87z28

sorry to bring this back from the dead... but i need to no info on a new tranny pan. Anyone have anymore info on this stuff? whats a good stock size pan that will help with cooling? i dont want to add stuff, just need a new pan. thanks guys.

OMINOUS_87

The cooling benefit from a larger pan is only a fraction of what a cooler can provide. If you are concerned about reducing heat go with a plate and fin style cooler, these are the best units at dropping temps, they are built like radiators. Hayden and B&M make these style coolers, Hayden has much nicer pricing. For a stock style setup you dont really need a deeper pan, although more fluid is more fluid and more fluid never hurts anything! I will be running the biggest cooler that Hayden makes along with a Derale pan. The Derale pan for the 700R4 allows for an additional 2 qts of fluid per the Derale website. My trans has a fresh build setup for the strip with a kevlar band so more fluid and mass cooling is welcome, not to mention the fact that my 9.5 inch Vigilante will be taking my trans capacity down an about a qt of fluid compared to the 12 inch stocker so a deep pan is a requirement for me.

If you need cooling get a cooler.
If you need more fluid get a deep pan.
If you need both then get both.
Not much more to it then that.

jmnjn

I have one of those chrome pans. Deep. How much fluid does it take to fill one of those up. I complete drained my tranny and have put 10 qts so far and still barly see a mark on my dip stick. What will happen if i put to much in. Will i know when i did
Thanks 700r4 tranny w/ shift kit